Baby Sleep Quiz - Why does my baby wake in the night?

Has your baby's bedtime fallen off the wagon? Or has your baby previously slept through the night, but is now waking frequently? We've put together some handy troubleshooting tips to help get you back on track.

1. Is your baby's bedtime on time?

The time you put your baby to bed can have a big impact on both bedtime itself and overnight sleep. A baby who goes to bed too late is likely overtired and will have trouble winding down to sleep. Overtired babies often wake more at night, and earlier in the morning. for babies and children under 3 years old, 6:30pm is generally a good bedtime. Some little ones will be fine with a 7:00 pm lights out, and others might need an occasional 6:00 or 6:15pm if they have had a very big day, or are in the middle of dropping a nap. If in doubt- keep it on the early side.

2. Is your baby having age appropriate naps?

Good day sleep = better night sleep in our experience. We would suggest the following as a general guide for day sleeps:

3. Do you help your baby fall all the way to sleep at bedtime?

Even if you haven't always helped your baby get to sleep at bedtime, if you have recently found yourself needing to rock, feed, or otherwise help your baby fall asleep most of the time then this is likely something babe is now relying on. In order for your baby to sleep through the night, she needs to be able to settle herself when she first falls asleep.

4. Does your baby self-settle at bedtime, but wake and need rocking, feeding or other help to get back to sleep overnight?

Good news! Your baby has the skills to self soothe, and just needs some extra practice overnight. Waking frequently overnight is normal – we adults do it, we are just really good at self soothing! Depending on his age, your baby might still need an overnight feed. Most babies over 6 months can sleep through the night without feeding provided they are established on solids and eating well during the day. A dreamfeed can help with babies who still need a night feed.

5. Does your baby rely on a dummy to get to sleep and resettle in the night?

Your baby can certainly learn to sleep through the night and continue using a dummy, but not if you keep putting it in for her. Your baby needs to learn to use the dummy as a self-settling tool, which means putting it in herself. If she can't learn to do that, get rid off the dummy!

Where to now?

If you're still not sure the reason for your wee one's night wakings, it probably boils down to self-settling. The best place to start is reading our article, how to gently encourage your baby to self settle.